Sausage and Veggies Pasta Soup - 30 Days of THRIVE Day 1

Welcome Back!  Or if this is your first time joining us, welcome aboard!

Is it freezing and windy where you live?  Here in Denver, its 16 degrees with a windchill factor of -1 degrees... um, yah, fun :)  What's a girl to do on days like these?  Make a warm filling bowl of soup of course!

If you caught my post last Wednesday, you heard all about this new series we're bringing to you.  Since I started the blog almost 2 1/2 years ago, I have been dying to do something like this, but it is an immense undertaking to do alone especially while keeping up with all of the other posts that need to occur.  Thankfully, Brianna and Meilea are go getters who are up for the challenge of helping us bring you a complete 30 Day line up of pantry stable meals that you can depend on.

We will be adding a 100% THRIVE recipe to this series every Tuesday (and continue to have other recipes throughout the week and Thrifty Thursdays throughout the month). This first 30 Days of THRIVE series will finish the final week in October.  Then, in November, we will be able to offer a free ebook to you, our fantastic readers, as well as a shopping list that says exactly how many cans you will need of each thing to make each of these recipes once in the 30 days.  Do you want to build up a year supply? Us too! We will also create a list that shows you how to buy a years supply of these staples to have on hand in your pantry. Easy peasy, right?

When I was out of town for Convention a couple of weeks ago, we stayed with my Aunt Karen in Utah.  She made an amazingly filling, tasty soup in her crockpot that we could enjoy once we got back to the house.  It was called Tortellini Sausage Soup from Our Best Bites.  Yum! I love a good filling soup that is full of veggies and flavor.  Something I really thought was unusual about it though, is Kate added apple cider to the liquids to give it a bit of a sweetened flavor.  I didn't expect it, but I enjoyed it. I posted the original recipe at the bottom of the page in case there are some things that you have on hand (ie canned diced tomatoes or chicken broth) that you want to use instead of some of the THRIVE if you don't have a stocked pantry yet. Just remember to also reduce the water with the addition of your other items.

Now for the recipe!

I love the recipe and REALLY love tortellini, but I thought, I can definitely make this a lot faster if I'm not having to grate veggies or open a ton of cans. And, I can make it shelf stable if I use a different, non-refrigerated variety of pasta.  You have to admire the beautiful color of these THRIVE veggies fresh out of the can.

Plus, something I love to do is cook for multiple nights at a time.  Wouldn't it be brilliant if I made this in the pot, but then added all of the same ingredients in a Ziplock bag to use sometime in the near future. (Meal-in-a-Jars really speak to me :)) So, here you go, Meal in a Bag:

I recommend that you have these things on hand in your pantry already, but if you do not, the soup will still taste great on its own.

If you are making it in a pot on the stove:                                            If you are making the Meal in a bag variety:
-Cooking wine (optional to help get carmelized flavor into soup)     -Garlic Powder or Garlic Salt
-Olive Oil
-Minced Garlic (refrigerated)

So are you all dying to know how to make this recipe from 100% THRIVE? Here we go!
Print the Full Page Recipe

Delicious Sausage Pasta and Veggie Soup by Tiffany
2 c THRIVE FD Sausage
1/2 c THRIVE FD onions
2 T THRIVE chicken bouillon
*2 T THRIVE Orchard Apple Drink Powder
1/3 c THRIVE Tomato Powder
1/2 c THRIVE carrot dices
2 c THRIVE FD Zucchini
1 1/2 c THRIVE FD Diced Tomatoes
1/2 c THRIVE FD Spinach
^1- 1 1/4 c THRIVE elbow macaroni (Depends on if you like you soup thick and hearty or a little more soupy)
1 t THRIVE basil
1 t THRIVE oregano
2 T THRIVE Parsley

Preparing in a Crockpot or Meal in a Bag Directions:
Add all of the ingredients to a Ziplock bag, or dump straight into the crockpot.  Add 9 cups of water.  Stir the mixture a little bit to make sure that the seasonings are well blended.  If you added the optional 1 t garlic powder or garlic salt, you would add that at the same time as the rest of the ingredients.  Set on low for 6-8 hours.  You made need to add another cup or two of water towards the end of cooking time depending on how hot your crockpot gets.

Preparing on the Stove:
1. Add sausage, garlic, onions and 1/2 c water (and optional drizzle of olive oil) to warm pot and allow to brown for 3 minutes to carmelize in the pan, stirring occasionally.  (If you have cooking wine, add a splash of it now to remove carmelized flavor from pan)
2.Add 9 cups of water to the pot. Whisk in the tomato powder, apple drink mix, chicken bouillon, oregano, basil and parsley.
3. Finally add remaining ingredients before water reaches a boil: carrot dices, zucchini, spinach, tomato dices and noodles.  Allow the covered pot to simmer on low for 30-40 minutes.

We like to top it with rehydrated FD Monterey Cheese (or you can put it in dry if you want a little bit of crunch).  If you like it creamy, you can even add a little Sour Cream Powder. Yum.

^ Using 1 1/4 macaroni creates a more filling, thicker soup.  If you would like your soup to be a little more "soupy" decrease the macaroni to 3/4 or 1 cup depending on how liquidous you like it!

*Note that she uses apple cider to give it a little sweetness.  We really enjoyed it.  If you are afraid sweet won't be "your thing" you can leave this out and increase the chicken bouillon to 3 T.

To make it more diabetic friendly, you can use both switches thus decreasing the sugar from the pasta and apple drink mix.

 Original recipe from Our Best Bites:
Tortellini Sausage Soup
3 links Italian Sausage
4 cloves, pressed garlic
1 onion, diced
1/2 c water
2 - 15 oz cans chicken broth
1/2 c apple cider
1 16 oz can diced tomatoes
1 - 8 oz can tomato sauce
1 c sliced carrots
1 t dried basil
1 t dried oregano
2 medium zuccini, grated
2 T parsley
8-10 oz package cheese tortellini

1. Remove the casings from the link sausages and crumble into a large soup pot.  To remove the casings, you can use a sharp knife to cut a slit down one side of the sausage then peel back the casing.
2.  Chop onion and add to pot with garlic and a drizzle of olive oil.  Continue cooking until onions are translucent and your sausage is cooked.  (This is one of my favorite smells on earth by the way!)
3. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, juice, water, chicken broth, carrots, oregano, and basil.  Cover and simmer for 1/2 hour.  Add parsley and zucchini and simer for another 15 minutes or so.  Add the tortellini and cook until tender, then serve with bread and freshly-grated Parmesan.

Chef Todd Cooks it Up Veggie Style

Along with new monthly sales for October along comes new fresh recipes
from our very own Chef Todd

Click on any of the pictures to be taken
to the printable recipe link:

Vegitariian Lasagna

Now this one looks to die for! I think its going to be my favorite of the bunch.

Italian Bean Salad

A dish full of protein and veggies, YUM.

Stuffed Portabello Mushrooms

Mushrooms aren't my favorite but I'm sure my husband would be delighted to see this.

Creamy Tomato Pasta Primavera

But this one is a close second.

THRIVE Crepes with a specialty filling

I've never had a vegetable crepe but I'm excited to try this!

Happy Cooking and Happy Tuesday!

Light and Easy Alfredo Pasta

I had my beautiful niece, Lauren, visiting me from Virginia this summer (I miss her and so do my kids:( wiping away tears) and we did some cooking when she'd come over to my house a couple of times a week. Did I mention I miss her.. I wish I'd had money to buy a Cube-our deal to get her to stay and watch my children, forever... okay back on topic.


We were on a mission to make something that can bring so much comfort to the soul but that has a bad reputation for all of the grease puddles, healthier. I am delighted to tell you that we found a recipe that we LOVE that only has ½ T of oil. Some of the fat is made up in Parmesan Cheese, but its a much healthier fat- woohoo! Next step, BEG Shelf Reliance to start making Freeze Dried Garlic and Parsley, yum!
Not cooking with food storage? Skip down to the bottom.


Printable Recipe THRIVE recipe on page 1, non-THRIVE on page 2


Light and Easy Alfredo Sauce
Prep Time:25-35 minutes(depending on how long you leave it in the oven) Serves:6-8
Ingredients:
½ T Extra Virgin Olive Oil                     1 T THRIVE Chicken Bouillon
1 T garlic                                               3 T Flour
½ T THRIVE onions                           1 t salt
3 c water                                                ¼ t black pepper
5 T THRIVE Instant Milk powder      Dried Parsley
½ c grated Parmesan Cheese

1. Saute garlic garlic, onions, and EVOO until golden brown in large non-stick pan.
   
2. In a small saucepan, stir together water, milk powder, bouillon, flour, salt and pepper. Stir until smooth and thick.
   
3. Add milk mixture to the sauteed garlic mixture and continue to cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until sauce is thick.
   
4. Stir in the Parmesan cheese then sprinkle with parsley and your done!
   

Want to make of meal of it? Let's do it!
This sauce works well with all sorts of noodles. We started with a campanelle noodle, but also tried egg noodles. If using store bought noodles, cook up a full package. If using THRIVE noodles, you have spaghetti, macaroni , and egg noodles to choose from.


Alfredo Pasta Casserole
Ingredients:
1 package of pasta or 6 c THRIVE egg noodles       1 c THRIVE FD Spinach or FD Broccoli
2 c THRIVE FD Chicken                                        1 recipe Light and Easy Alfredo Sauce
¼ c cold water                                                        1 c THRIVE FD Mozzerella Cheese

1. Begin boiling water to cook noodles.
   
2. Saute garlic garlic, onions, and EVOO until golden brown in large non-stick pan.
   
3. Add noodles to water to be boiled.
   
4. In another small saucepan, stir together water, milk powder, bouillon, flour, salt and pepper. Stir until smooth and thick.
   
5. Add milk mixture to the sauteed garlic mixture and continue to cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until sauce is thick. Stir in the Parmesan cheese then sprinkle with parsley.
   
6. Place Mozzerella Cheese on a plate and spread the cheese flat. Pour ¼ c cold water on top of cheese and allow to soak up water. Place FD Spinach (or FD Broccoli) with FD Chicken in your 9x13 casserole dish.
   
7. Before draining your noodles, reserve 1 c water and pour it on your veggies and chicken. If there is a lot of excess water, you can add more veggie in. Drain noodles and rinse with cold water so they don't get too soft.
   
8. Pour your noodles in a 9x13 pan and mix around with the veggies and chicken. Coat noodle mixture evenly with Alfredo Sauce and stir. Sprinkle Mozzarella cheese over the rest of your dish.
   
9. Cook at 350 about 10 minutes or until cheese is slightly melted and crisp.\
   -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   
   
   Don’t have THRIVE?  You can still make this dish, you’ll just need to make sure you have precooked chicken and veggies.
   Light and Easy Alfredo Sauce
   Ingredients:
   ½ T Extra Virgin Olive Oil 1 T Chicken Bouillon
   1 T garlic 3 T Flour
   ½ T dried onions 1 t salt
   3 c milk ¼ t black pepper
   ½ c grated Parmesan Cheese Dried Parsley
   1. Saute garlic garlic, onions, and EVOO until golden brown in large non-stick pan.
   2. In a small saucepan, stir together milk, bouillon, flour, salt and pepper. Stir until smooth and thick.
   3. Add milk mixture to the sauteed garlic mixture and continue to cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until sauce is thick.
   4. Stir in the Parmesan cheese then sprinkle with parsley and your done!
   
   This sauce works well with all sorts of noodles. We started with a campanelle noodle, but also tried egg noodles. If using store bought noodles, cook up a full package. If using THRIVE noodles I would use 1 lb of noodles which is about 6 cups, you can add more or less if you need to stretch it further or keep it more saucy.
   
   Alfredo Pasta Casserole
   Prep Time: 25-35 minutes (depending on how long you heat it in the oven) Serves 6-8
   Ingredients: 1 recipe Light and Easy Alfredo Sauce
   1 package of pasta or ½  c frozen Spinach, defrosted
   6 c any noodles 2 c Cooked Chicken
   ¼ c cold water 1 c shredded Mozzerella Cheese
   1. Begin boiling water to cook noodles.
   2. Saute garlic garlic, onions, and EVOO until golden brown in large non-stick pan.
   3. Add noodles to water to be boiled.
   4. In another small saucepan, stir together water, milk powder, bouillon, flour, salt and pepper. Stir until smooth and thick.
   5. Add milk mixture to the sauteed garlic mixture and continue to cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until sauce is thick. Stir in the Parmesan cheese then sprinkle with parsley.
   6. Place Mozzarella Cheese on a plate and spread the cheese flat. Pour ¼ c cold water on top of cheese and allow to soak up water. Place FD Spinach (or FD Broccoli) with FD Chicken in your 9x13 casserole dish.
   7. Drain your noodlesand rinse with cold water so they don't get too soft.
   8. Pour your noodles in a 9x13 pan and mix around with the veggies and chicken. Coat noodle mixture evenly with Alfredo Sauce and stir. Sprinkle Mozzarella cheese over the rest of your dish.
   9. Cook at 350 about 10 minutes or until cheese is slightly melted and crisp.
   
   
   
   
   I hope Lauren comes back next summer!

Basic Cooked Rice

I use rice pretty often in my cooking because it is inexpensive, filling and picks up amazing flavors of whatever its combined with.  If you are new to cooking and need a basic go to recipe, here it is!

If you are combining this with the Sweet and Sour Pork (or Chicken) recipe, you will need to double th ingredients.  This recipe makes 4 cups of rice.

Ingredients:

2 c rice

4 c water

2 T butter (or butter powder)

2 T chicken bouillon

Combine all ingredients in a medium pot.  Bring all ingredients to a boil, then reduce to a light simmer, cover and leave on simmer for 15-20 minutes.  Do not stir! 

Note:  My stovetop gets hot easily so I already know that I have to add more water to the things I boil anyway so I actually do an extra half cup of water.  Adjust to your stove tops needs.